Beyond its widespread use for representing technical aspects and matters of building and construction science, Building information modeling (BIM) can be used to represent architectural
relationships and rules drawn from aesthetic theory. This research suggests that BIM provides not only vocabulary but also syntactical tools that can be used to capture an architectural language.
In a case study using Richard Meier’s language for single-family detached houses, a BIM template has been devised to represent the aesthetic concepts and relations therein. The template employs parameterized conceptual mass objects, syntactical rules, and a library of architectonic elements, such as walls, roofs, columns, windows, doors, and railings. It constrains any design produced using the template to a grammatically consistent expression or style. The template has been used as the starting point for modeling the Smith House, the Douglas House, and others created by the authors, demonstrating that the aesthetic template is general to many variations. Designing with the template to produce a unique but conforming design further illustrates the generality and expressiveness of the language. Having made the formal language explicit, in terms of syntactical rules and vocabulary, it becomes easier to vary the formal grammar and concrete vocabulary to produce variant languages and styles. Accordingly, this approach is not limited to a specific style, such as Richard Meier's. Future research can be conducted to demonstrate how designing with BIM can support stylistic change. Adoption of this approach in practice could improve the consistency of architectural designs and their coherence to defined styles, potentially increasing the general level of aesthetic expression in our built environment.

Ambrose, Michael (2009) Agent Provocateur — BIM and the Design Studio: Questioning Roles of Abstraction and Simulation in Design Education
, The Value of Design: Design is at the Core of What we Teach and Practice, Proceedings of the 97th Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, edited by Phoebe Crisman and Mark Gillem, 85–91. Portland, OR: ACSA

Kweon, Young (2002) A Comparative Study on Centrality in Museum Layouts - In the Case of the Royal Museum of Scotland and Burrell Gallery
, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 1 (1): 205–212